That Nostalgic Summer Rain (Bleach/Kara no Kyoukai)

[X] "I might be able to find the Ley Lines Misaya knew about. They were in town, so we could meet around here tomorrow and start from here?"

When the next day came about, Fujino was awake early. She and Tatsuki had agreed on a meeting place, a bus stop near the cinema, since it allowed Fujino to get their easily. There was a route almost directly from her hotel to that stop, after all, and Tatsuki knew her way around Karakura well enough to know exactly how to get their.

The night before, Fujino had made sure she was prepared. She had found a map and observed it through her clairvoyance, to try and recall where the Ley Lines she had seen on Misaya's map would be. She had made sure she had an umbrella at the ready. She had asked around to determine the bus schedule to figure out when she had to leave to arrive at the agreed location.

She had actually forgetten to return to Urahara's shop and find the clothes that she had been covered in blood so she could clean them and take them home, but nobody had commented on it, so Fujino didn't realise until she had seen herself through her clairvoyance later that day. She hoped that everyone just assumed she had gone clothes shopping, or had borrowed her clothes from elsewhere. Or else had not noticed. It would be embarrassing if they assumed she was in different clothing because she had done something scandalous.

That said, it had gone smoothly the day after. The bus driver had informed her of when her stop had come, and now Fujino merely needded to wait for Tatsuki to arrive.

The only issue she had encountered was that, in order to make it to the agreed place at the agreed time, with the bus schedule being what it was, Fujino had to arrive fairly early. She would have to wait for some time, before Tatsuki arrived.

It was strange, Fujino found herself thinking. She had come to Karakura Town just to find one person. She hadn't expected to do much else. And yet somehow, she had made a friend. Fujino had never been good at making friends in the best of situations, and yet somehow, at a time like this, she had ended up making one.

Thinking on that, though, perhaps it would be more accurate to think of it as Fujino being able to make friends easier at times like this. The only actual friend she had made normally was Azaka, and truthfully, that was a result of Azaka deciding that she wanted to be friends with her. Other people she would call friends would range between people Azaka was friends with, or Risu, who Fujino had started to spend time with after talking the girl out of killing herself.

So perhaps it wasn't so strange that Fujino had made another friend. She seemed to only befriend people during tense situations, after all. Perhaps it was that the exact nature of the situation, with the risk of harm dealing with Hollows and whatnot brought, that made it easier for Fujino to open up?

Deep in thought as she was, Fujino almost missed it when the faint sound of rain began hitting the pavement around her.

Looking up, Fujino felt her face growing wet. Touching a hand to her cheek, and she could feel the light raindrops touch at the back of her hand.

It wasn't heavy rain, not by a long shot. In fact, the summer rain was rather pleasantly light. Her umbrella hanging loosely at her side, Asagami Fujino looked up, and reminisced on the rain.

The last time she had been caught in the rain had been that time, hadn't it? It wasn't exactly a pleasant memory, that one. Pushing against the storm's wind, the rain so heavy it was hard to see, the sound of the water hitting the ground so loud it was hard to hear. That was what it was like, when the shape of that woman had become clear. The woman Asagami Fujino had tried so hard to kill, and who tried so hard to kill Fujino in turn.

Before that, too. Mere days before, she had been caught in the rain. It was after the first time she had committed murder, the first time in years she had felt pain. That memory was more pleasant. There was fear, but there was also relief. The rain had washed away the blood, and that man had offered her shelter. The rain was lighter then, less overbearing.

Before that, once again. When she was a child. Back before she was a murderer, before she had done anything wrong, and yet was still unsure of her right to exist. It was such a minor thing, she barely even thought about it these days. She stared into the sky, at the grey clouds with tint of golden light, thinking her inability to feel was proof that the world had rejected her, when the first drop of rain landed on her cheek.

Realistically speaking, it was likely a coincidence. And yet, as a child, it had felt like a sign. Before anything else, she had been touched. It had felt like she was being told that it was okay, if she couldn't feel anything. She was here, and that was fine.

It was just superstition, but it had been comforting as a child.

It had been raining once, and Asagami Fujino felt it was okay for her to exist. It had been raining once, and Asagami Fujino had regained her sense of pain. It had been raining once, and Asagami Fujino realised she had sinned, and begun working to atone.

The most pleasant of those memories had been in the lightest of rain, but still, it made Fujino smile to be caught in the rain.

That was strange, wasn't it? Something people would think was odd, if they knew. Not to the same extent as an insensitivity to pain, or a psychic power, or a desire to kill, but the point remained. If someone saw Fujino as she was now, would they think less of her?

Perhaps she should stop reminiscing and put up her umbrella, before someone came across her.

"Fujino?"

And just as that thought crossed her mind, it was too late. Tatsuki was here.

Had it been that long already? Fujino must have lost track of time at some point. Her clothes didn't feel too heavy, so she hadn't gotten soaked in the rain while lost in thought, at least.

"What's wrong?" Tatsuki asked. "Umbrella busted?"

Oh, she had seen Fujino just standing around, then.

"No." Asagami informed her. "I was just lost in thought."

Picking up the umbrella, Fujino let her cane down for a moment so she could feel around for the latch to pull at, to open it up. It took her a moment to find it, and once she had, she held it above her head with one hand as she reached for her cane with the other.

"Well, let's go then." Tatsuki muttered curtly. Then, she stopped, and hesitated for a moment before she spoke again. "Sorry. That was ruder than I had intended. I just tend to get in a bad mood when it's raining?"

Oh?

"That's okay, Tatsuki." Fujino replied, with a smile. Still, that was curious. There was some level of irony, Fujino thought, that right after she spent time thinking of how much she enjoyed remembering her past in the rain, Tatsuki would make a comment to the opposite effect.

"How's your morning been?" Tatsuki asked, likely as an attempt to make up for her momentary rudeness. "Eat anything nice for breakfast?"

"The hotel was offering some room service, so I asked for pancakes." Fujino replied. "I thought it sounded interesting to try."

"Nice." Tatsuki replied. "I should get myself some of those sometime. I just had toast this morning."

Fujino didn't respond for a moment, unable to think of a way to continue that conversation. Instead, she refocused, and tried to recall where the map had marked the Ley Lines.

"One of the Ley Lines Misaya would be looking for should be nearby." Fujino said to Tatsuki. "And I imagine she wouldn't want to be noticed while working with it, so if she was hiding somewhere, it would be near one of the Ley Lines. Do you know if there's anywhere in town where she could be hidden?"

There was a brief lull, in which the rain was the only thing that could be heard, before Tatsuki responded.

"I think there was a section of the shopping district that was going through renovations." Tatsuki replied. "It's been like it for a while, though. Some kind of budgeting issue, I think. So there's a few buildings around town that have just been emptied."

"How many of those are nearby?" Fujino asked.

"A few." Tatsuki replied. "They're a fair distance apart, though, and they're all over the place."

"How about in that direction?" Fujino asked, pointing her cane across the street. "I might be wrong, but I think the closest Ley Line is over there."

"I think there's one of the places over." Tatsuki noted.

"We should make our way over there, then." Fujino replied. "Is there a crossing nearby?"

"Not really, but there's one down the street a bit." Tatsuki replied. "Here, this way."

She started walking, her footsteps difficult to make out over the rain, and Fujino followed.

For a time, it was quiet. The pleasant sound of the rain continued to fall around Fujino, and the two girls only talked briefly, when Fujino needed advice on where to go. Eventually, the two girls made their way to the first empty building Tatsuki could think of.

"Is there a way to look inside?" Fujino asked. "I could use my power to scan the area if I have to, but I would prefer not to. If there are any Hollows around, it would attract them."

Tatsuki hummed in consideration, and it was some time before she replied. "Doesn't look like it, sorry. I don't see any Hollows around either, though. I'll let you know if I see one coming?"

"Thank you." Fujino replied, before closing her eyes, and focusing.

The world became clear, and the first thing Asagami noticed was how cold the rain on her clothes was. She had never really focused on how the rain feels, when she could feel, Asagami mused. Twice, she had had the chance, but both times she had been distracted by other problems, other sensations, both times.

Now it was the rain that was distracting her from what was important, though. Pushing that thought out of her mind, Fujino observed the building with her clairvoyance.

There was nobody in it, from the looks of things.

"It's empty." Fujino reported to Tatsuki. Then, a thought occurred to her. "Where is the next location? I might be able to check it from here."

"You might?" Tatsuki asked. "How big is the range on your clairvoyance?"

"I'm not entirely sure." Fujino admitted.

"Well..." Tatsuki replied, and Fujino observed her looking around for a moment. "To your left, I think? Two or three blocks down."

Fujino shifted her gaze again, towards that direction.

"Are you sure?" Fujino asked, after a moment. "I don't think any of the buildings over there are closed for renovation."

"Oh right, that place actually finished up recently." Tatsuki realised. "Try..."

She went quiet for a moment. "There's one a few blocks from here. Down the end of this street, turn left, then the third right after that..."

"Hold on." Fujino interrupted her, before refocusing her vision on herself, and guiding her sight down the path Tatsuki had described. "Okay. The third right, and then?"

"Then it should be the fifth building on the left, by the alleyway." Tatsuki finished.

Fujino's all-seeing eyes focused on the building Tatsuki had described, closed and with most of the windows sealed. Strangely, one had been busted open, with a few fragments of shattered glass remaining on the windowsill.

Immediately, the cause of the broken window made itself clear.

Inside the building, under the shade of an unmoving Hollow, laid Ouji Misaya. The movement of her cheat shifted with her breath, but otherwise, she was motionless on the ground.

"There she is." Fujino noted. "I'm not sure if she's conscious. She's not moving."

"So, what's the plan then?" Tatsuki asked.

"I don't know." Fujino admitted. "There's a Hollow over her. It looks like the one that hurt you earlier, so I think it's under her control. At the very least, I think it would have attacked her if it wasn't."

"Can you kill it?" Tatsuki asked.

"Probably." Fujino answered. "But I don't know if that would be the best idea. I don't want to do anything that could set her off, and I don't know how she controls the Hollow. Perhaps killing it would have some kind of backlash on her, or alarm her enough to wake her up panicked."

"What do you suggest we do, then?" Tatsuki asked.

"Perhaps we can think of a plan on the way there." Fujino replied.

"Suppose so." Tatsuki replied, as she began to walk again. Deactivating her psychic power and plunging herself back into a numb darkness, Fujino followed the sound of Tatsuki's footsteps.

"We can't just try to pick Ouji up while she's out, can we?" Tatsuki asked. "It'd probably be bad if she woke up and started freaking out while we were carrying her. Plus, if people saw it, they'd misinterpret it for sure."

"In that case, we'd need to wake her up, somehow." Fujino mused. "I don't think banging at the door would do any good."

"So maybe we get in and figure something out from there?"

"Perhaps." Asgami continued. "The Hollow is an issue, but it could be that it won't do anything without orders from Misaya."

"Ouji had to get in somehow." Tatsuki mused in turn. "Maybe we could get in the same way?"

"There was a broken window." Fujino noted. A wind blew through suddenly, repositioning the Umbrella that Fujino held loosely, and she took a moment to tighten her grip and point it towards the rain again. "I don't think I would be able to climb through it."

"I could, though." Tatsuki replied. "And then I could get the door open from inside, probably. Unless they've replaced the lock. And worse come to worse, it's easier to hide that a door's been busted if I force it open from the inside rather than the outside."

"Please don't talk as if we're conducting some kind of criminal activity." Fujino asked.

"...I mean, technically, we'll be trespassing. Breaking and entering somewhere we shouldn't go. It kinda is criminal, when you think about it."

Fujino didn't respond to that.

Eventually, the two girls got to the building in question.

"The broken window is in the alleyway." Fujino confirmed. "I'll monitor the Hollow. If it looks like you're in danger, I'll kill it before it hurts you."

"Thanks." Tatsuki replied. "I am not looking forward to one of those things hitting me again."

Fujino nodded, and closed her eyes. Again, the sensation of her slightly dampened clothes took her off guard, but she put it out of her mind easier this time, and looked into the building.

Misaya was exactly as she had been the last Fujino had checked, though now that she looked more closely, Fujino began to notice how poor her condition was. If she was sleeping, her dreams were restless, as her face was contorted, fearful-looking. There were marks along her cheeks, as if she had been crying. One of her hands was loosely holding her stomach, and the other, curled into a fist, was marked with blood.

"I'm going in." Tatsuki said, beside Fujino. Asagami nodded, and Arisawa made her way around the building. It didn't take her long to reach the window. She climbed through, somehow avoiding the shards of glass still in the window, and hit the ground inside the building.

The moment Tatsuki stood up, the Hollow moved.

The instant the Hollow moved, Fujino acted.

Repeat the phrase enough, and it becomes a curse.

"Bend."

The instant Fujino spoke, the Hollow died. It's head twisted apart, and the slowly fading corpse fell forward with the momentum it had moved with.

Right towards Tatsuki.

Fujino opened her mouth to speak again, put enough force on the body to slow it's descent and give Tatsuki time to escape the falling Hollow, but the other girl acting first. Her muscles tensed as she moved forward, and grabbed the arm of the Hollow. With the Hollow's fist in her hands, Tatsuki pushed her arms to the side, shifting the momentum of the falling Hollow in the process, and stepped to the other side as she did so.

The Hollow collided with the wall, and burst apart as it did so, it's body turning to nothingness as it did so. Tatsuki looked at her hands, surprised etched in her face, and Fujino saw a fairy briefly in the Hollow's disappearing corpse, before it fell apart as well.

On the other side of the room, Misaya suddenly shot up, gasping for breath as she awoke.

Well, this was troublesome.

Inside the building, Tatsuki turned to Misaya, and put her hands up. Her lips were moving, but Fujino couldn't hear what was being discussed inside. All she could see was Misaya holding forth her fist, as if brandishing a weapon. Which, considering she had some kind of magic, would make sense even if her hand held no weapon.

Misaya muttered something, leaning against the wall as she did so, and Tatsuki backed away, towards the door.

Fujino bit her lip as she watched the two, wondering if she would need to intervene. If Misaya started trying to attack Tatsuki, would Fujino have to interfere? How would she be able to, without hurting Misaya too badly? Perhaps she could stop at just breaking a finger, but that felt like it would antagonise her, and make it harder to convince her to come home.

Tatsuki reached the door, still looking at Misaya, and stretched her hand back to search for the lock. It took her a moment to do it, but eventually, Fujino heard a click.

Stepping forward, Fujino opened her eyes, and turned off her clairvoyance. Her umbrella slipped from her hand, letting her use it to open the door.

It took a moment, for Misaya to speak.

"Asagami?" She asked, her voice sounding week. "I... Go away."

"Ouji." Fujino replied, stepping forward.

"There." Tatsuki continued. "Fujino's here, I'm not going to stay, I'm not going to get involved in your problems, Ouji. I was just lending a hand."

Oh, was that what they had talked about, before Fujino had entered the building?

"I'll be on my way out now-"

"Don't." Misaya interrupted. "Not yet. We have so much to discuss, after all."

The tone of her voice was chilling, and Fujino stepped forward. "Ouji, you-"

"You were warned, Asagami." Ouji cut in. "It's too late to care about your secret now. You kept looking for me, and you brought a friend, so now it's time to talk. Murderer."

Fujino's body tensed at the word, and around her, the world seemed to fall silent around her. Even if she had known it was coming, the directness of the declaration threw her off guard, leaving her without words. Instantly, Fujino began to regret her reaction. She should have prepared herself for it, she should have just shrugged it off, if she had done it properly she could have convinced Tatsuki that Ouji was lying, that she was just trying to confuse her. That wouldn't work now, Tatsuki had heard it, she knew.

"Not seeing what this has to do with me." Tatsuki replied, her tone flippant.

Fujino blinked.

"You don't see how this could matter?" Ouji asked. "How it's important that your new friend is a murderous beast?"

Fujino flinched slightly at the insult, but before she could talk, Tatsuki continued.

"I mean, from where I'm standing, I don't really have any reason to believe any of this." She noted. "And-"

"Four dead in one night." Ouji interrupted, her voice rambling. "Limbs torn apart, rotated until the flesh tore. Heads torn off as well. Deaths likely instant. The next night, another dead. Limbs torn off one at a time. A few days later, another victim. A driver's head was torn off. The death was ruled an accident due to collision. The next day, a bridge is destroyed. Asagami Fujino is found at the site and hospitalised. The murders stop."

Ouji stopped talking, and again, there was silence.

"...And?" Tatsuki asked.

Fujino frowned. How was Tatsuki being so blase about this? Did she not believe Ouji, even with how quiet Fujino had been, or did she just not care? Fujino didn't understand. After hearing something like that, at the very least, a normal person should be shocked, shouldn't they? At the very least, wouldn't Tatsuki be asking to hear Fujino's side of the story, before dismissing Ouji's?

It just didn't make sense.

"What do you mean, and?" Ouji suddenly snapped, shouting. "Don't you care? She's a murderer! How are you just shrugging that off?"

"Nothing to do with me." Tatsuki replied. "Nothing to do with why Fujino's here. Not important."

Misaya sputtered, wordlessly, and Fujino took the opportunity to step forward.

"Ouji." Fujino began. "You can't keep going like this. You're hurting yourself like this."

"I don't care." Ouji replied.

"I do." Fujino took another step closer. "Ouji, please. I understand what you're going through. You're hurt, and you want to make up for what happened so you don't feel as hurt. I understand that. But your'e not going to make up for anything if you keep doing this. All that's going to happen is you dying, alone, because you wouldn't look out for yourself."

"No, no, I have a plan!" Ouji replied, her voice suddenly growing frantic. "The dead, the ones in the graveyard, they know things. They hide, they watch, they remember. There's, the the monsters out there, they can do things. The dead have seen it, the dead can remember it. I just need to make a strong one, or find one to control, and I can..."

She trailed off, panting as she did so, and Fujino stepped closer.

"Listen to yourself." Fujino began. "Aren't you more composed than this? Shouldn't you be able to talk longer than this without getting exhausted? This isn't healthy, Ouji. I'll admit, I don't know much about what you're doing, but I do know that you aren't going to be able to do anything, soon."

"No." Ouji muttered, her voice so much softer since her last time speaking that it took Fujino a moment to realise it was the same person talking to her. "I... Not much longer now. One more, I have one more fairy, it's in the graveyard now. It's gathering strength, it's luring in more monsters to take their strength, it'll work. I can use it to find her spirit. I can... I can bring her back..."

Again, Fujino stepped closer.

She didn't know if she could counter Ouji's argument, not while she was like this. Misaya wasn't in the right mind, so even if Fujino could think of what to tell her to convince her to stop, she doubted it would matter. For now, she needed to focus on convincing Misaya to accept help. If she was able to rest, and recover, then perhaps she could be swayed more easily with logic, with what Fujino had learned from Urahara.

"Misaya." Fujino continued, stepping closer. "Please. Come with me. You need help. Let me help you. Get some rest, some food, look after yourself. I want you to come back to Reien, but this is more important, right now."

Ouji didn't respond, and for a moment, Fujino entertained the idea that she had succeeded. Would Misaya listen to her? If she did, what could Fujino do with Misaya? It'd be easiest if she could convince Misaya to come back to Reien immediately, but if Misaya wouldn't accept the offer if it involved Reien, then Fujino could figure something out. Perhaps she could take Misaya back to the hotel, or perhaps she could rely on Urahara again. She would prefer not to if she had the choice, since she barely knew the shop keeper, but he did seem to be willing to be of help from what Fujino had experienced.

Misaya's footsteps towards Fujino were slow, almost hesitant, and Asagami held her hand out towards the girl.

Suddenly, Misaya lunged forward. The sudden force to her stomach threw Fujino to the ground, and the sudden impact on the ground threw her cane from her hand, as Misaya's footsteps began to echo towards the door and Tatsuki shouted in alarm.

Something didn't feel right, Fujino thought, but she pushed that thought out of her mind. Pushing herself up to her feet, Asagami turned towards the entrance, where Misaya and Tatsuki were.

"Wait, don't-" Tatsuki called suddenly, before a loud impact rang out. Misaya gasped as all the breath ran out of her stomach, and then there was silence.

Stumbling across the ground as she searched for her cane, Fujino looked towards where the action had been. "Tatsuki, what happened?"

"...She was rushing me." Tatsuki admitted. "I wasn't trying to hurt her, but I was close to a wall and ended up knocking her into it. Ouji's out cold."

Fujino sighed, as she looked down. "I was hoping to do this without hurting her."

"My bad." Tatsuki replied. "Do you need a..."

She trailed off, and Fujino frowned.

"What is it?" Asagami asked.

"Why is there blood on your clothes?" Tatsuki asked.

Fujino frowned. What did Tatsuki mean by that?

Her hand reached to her stomach, where the force of Misaya's sudden charge had struck her, and it came away wet with blood.

Oh. Misaya had some kind of weapon, then.

Taking a breath, Fujino activated her ESP, and let the pain flow through her.

It hurt. It really, really hurt. It was an unfamiliar sensation that wasn't enjoyable, even if it was novel. For a moment, it was all Fujino could do, to not scream from the pain.

Strange, she thought, as the initial shock faded. This feels was very different to what she had felt when she thought she had been stabbed, back after her initial murders. How could anyone ever confuse the pain she had felt then, and the pain she felt now that she had actually been stabbed?

With that odd thought done passing her mind, Fujino looked down towards the source of the blood. There was a rip in her clothes, and beneath it, a large shard of glass was stuck into her flesh.

Reaching for the shard, Fujino put her fingers on the flat sides of the glass, and pulled.

"Wait, wai-" Tatsuki began, but a moment too late. With a short gasp of pain, Fujino pulled the glass out of her stomach.

Her gaze shifted towards Tatsuki's face, which had paled.

"Fujino." The dark-haired girl noted. "I, uh... I'm pretty sure you're meant to leave that in."

Fujino blinked. "What do you mean?"

"It's going to bleed more now." Tatsuki pointed out. "Or, at least, that's what I think the logic is."

Ah. Oops.

"Hold on, just..." Tatsuki looked around, and stepped closer to Fujino. "Try to cover the wound with your clothes and put pressure on it? Maybe lean against the wall so it's easier to deal with."

Fujino nodded, as she moved back, eventually reaching a wall and doing as Tatsuki suggested.

"What should we do now?" Fujino asked. "I should have this wound looked at, and we need to do something about Misaya. I don't think I should walk with an untreated wound, and I don't think you could carry Misaya."

Looking at the girl unconscious by the door, Tatsuki took a moment to think, before reaching for Misaya.

"She'll probably be groggy when she comes to." Tatsuki noted, as she pulled Misaya towards Fujino. "No condition to get up or do anything. So if she does wake up soon, she's not going anywhere."

"What are you thinking?" Fujino asked.

"A lot of things." Tatsuki replied. "Most I can deal with later. Right now, I'm trying to..."

She trailed off, at that.

"I suppose to Urahara's place, again." Tatsuki sighed. "I can't think of any other place to patch you up and take Misaya, at least. Unless you have any ideas?"

"Not really." Fujino admitted.

"Then Urahara it is." Tatsuki decided. "He should have some way of getting you and Ouji to his shop. A car, maybe. Worse case scenario, Tsukabishi could come here and help with the wound."

"Thank you, Tatsuki." Fujino forced herself to smile.

"Hopefully, Ouji doesn't wake up before then." Tatsuki muttered. "Uh, sorry, again. About knocking her out. She should be okay, I think, but I really didn't mean to be that harsh on her."

"It's okay, Tatsuki." Fujino replied. "You did the best."

The pain in her stomach was gnawing at the back of her mind, and so Fujino continued. "If you are going to get help, could you please hurry? This isn't a pleasant feeling."

Tatsuki's eyes widened. "Shit, yeah, shouldn't talk while you're still bleeding. Uh, remember to keep pressure on the wound, and if it starts bleeding worse, just forget about staying here and go try to find help, okay?"

"I will be fine, Tatsuki." Fujino noted. "But please. Hurry."

Tatsuki nodded, and without a word more, fled out the door.

Turning off her ESP, Fujino felt the numbness flow over her once again, and closed her eyes.

With nothing to keep her occupied but the sound of the rain, Fujino leaned against the wall, and waited for time to pass.

Eventually, Fujino heard another sound.

[X] The breathing beside her shifting irregularly, as Ouji regained consciousness.
[X] The door creaking open, as Tatsuki returned with help.